In response to V M Brown regarding man made global warming (“Duped by UKIP”, Opinion, May 17) I make the following reply.

The point I made at the hustings was that, as a non-scientist, which “expert” should I listen to?

A representative of an ex-poly that is not even in the top 200 of the world’s universities, the University of East Anglia, and who uses words like “trick” in reference to science – or a professor of MIT, arguably the best technical university in the world?

Roger Helmer, the UKIP MEP, has produced a brilliant document on this subject. Solar and wind energy are heavily subsidised and need the back-up of traditional power stations.

The reality is that when the economy recovers we will find ourselves in a very competitive world. If we cannot exploit shale gas like the USA then we will be at a severe economic disadvantage.

The science is not settled on man made global warming, and I for one am not prepared to see our economy trashed until the scientific evidence is overwhelming.

Lawrie Brownlee

Station Road

Sidmouth